Ald. Linda McNeely, D-13, did not return calls or an email about the garden conflict. But McNeely has been a critic of community gardens on city lots, which she said should be sold and taxed instead of leased to nonprofit groups.

The West Gateway garden was moved into her ward last year. It had been housed at Banner of Truth International Church, 1401 W. State St., before it was moved across the street from Northwest Food & Liquor (formerly Al Mart) in the 2300 block of West State Street during reconstruction of the street.

Last summer McNeely said in an interview that it doesn’t make sense to have a community across the street from one of the very few businesses in the 13th Ward.

The garden was started seven years ago at 1810 W. West State St. during Weed and Seed, a federal program that brought saturating police patrols, increased arrests and community organizing into one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. It is no longer funded, but the garden continued.

Produce raised in the garden was given to residents. Some was donated to the Rockford Rescue Mission and food pantries, and raising vegetables became a community outreach project for James DeVoe.

DeVoe, president of the West Gateway Coalition, started working with juvenile offenders in the garden in 2006. They turned earth, learned how to raise tomatoes and onions, and logged community-service hours as part of their sentences.

The garden relocation was done to accommodate the $8.1 million reconstruction of West State Street, which will be suspended for the winter when the road reopens to traffic.

Page 2 of 2 - But that move proved to be unpopular. A petition campaign against the garden began, “so we were doing the same thing, passing petitions for keeping the garden,” DeVoe said.

It cost $2,400 to set up the garden and tool shed. The money was donated. He hoped the coalition could lease a nearby house, fix it up and turn it into a community center similar to one it had during Weed and Seed era.

But it appears that the garden is headed to Hinckley Avenue and West State Street, across from Crusader Community Health.